Tolkien Calendar 2020
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Individual Artists
Tolkien Calendar 2020 Details
About the Author John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) was a major scholar of the English language, specializing in Old and Middle English. Twice Professor of Anglo-Saxon (Old English) at the University of Oxford, he also wrote a number of stories, including most famously The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954-1955), which are set in a pre-historic era in an invented version of the world which he called by the Middle English name of Middle-earth. Read more
Reviews
The 2020 edition is the third Tolkien Calendar in a row illustrated by Alan Lee, one of the best artists depicting Middle-earth in our time. Lee's artwork typically features dramatic landscapes, with mountains, trees, and windswept skies, interspersed with more domestic scenes of farmlands and villages. The illustrations and sketches featured in this calendar are all taken from the forthcoming The Hobbit Sketchbook, which is certain to be one of the most beautiful art books published this year.The paintings in this calendar, as well as the accompanying pencil sketches which enhance the grids themselves, are arranged in chronological order through the book. Thus January begins with a painting of Bilbo Baggins at the door of Bag End, seemingly just moments before he said "Good Morning" to Gandalf, while December depicts a scene from The Battle of Five Armies. Each illustration is accompanied by an appropriate quote from the book. I am particularly fond of June's "The Wargs," showing Bilbo and some of the dwarves in a tree looking down at the glowing eyes of the terrible wolves who are hunting them, May's view of the Misty Mountains, and of the cover illustration (which is included in greater detail as the final color painting) of Erebor, with the Company standing on Ravenhill staring at the Mountain and the ruins of Dale. There are also other illustrations depicting Laketown, Dale's ruins and the Mountain in greater detail, and of some old fortresses in the Lone-lands which are highly effective. And I really like February's depiction of The Green Dragon Inn and July's showing the Carrock with the Eagles about to land on it.Each month has a Sunday-to-Saturday grid, with real world holidays, moon phases, and publication dates for Tolkien's own works noted. Not only will this calendar be a useful and well designed tool throughout 2020, it will also be an artistic enhancement for any room.